tracie potts has the preview. >> reporter: president obama on the right and mitt romney on the left. questions about taxes and health care. the bar is high for the president and predicts romney's aggressiveness is not a fun balance. >> he has the facts. he drills you. he is tenacious. that is the difference between four years ago and this time. >> reporter: the bottom line, democrats say, is who has specifics. >> the american people at home are looking for details. i think you will see president obama continue to do that. >> reporter: nbc's latest poll puts the president three points ahead with romney gaining ground. >> voters are less likely to be hispanic and percentage of people 18 to 29-year-olds dropped. as a consequence of the po poll being slightly older, it moves to mitt romney. >> reporter: more interesting, the battle ground states. romney closing the gap in virginia and florida, but not ohio where the president is maintaining a strong lead into the debate. and despite what we found in the nbc poll, 4 in 10 americans are interested in the debates, but 60% are going to watch